Transpacific Revolutionaries: The Chinese Revolution in Latin America

144 Pages·2013·0.51 MB·English

by  Matthew Rothwell

Transpacifi c Revolutionaries
This book shows how Maoism was globalized during the 1949–1976
period, highlighting the agency of both Latin American and Chinese actors.
While Maoism has long been known to have been influential in many social
movements and guerrilla groups in Latin America, author Matthew Roth-
well is the first to establish the way in which Latin American communists
domesticated Maoism to Latin American conditions and turned Maoism
into an influential political trend in many countries. By utilizing case studies
of the formation of Maoist guerrilla groups and political parties in Mexico,
Peru and Bolivia, the book shows how the movement of Chinese commu-
nist ideas to Latin America was the product of a highly organized effort
that involved formal connections between Latin American activists and the
People’s Republic of China. It represents a major contribution to three devel-
oping fields of historical inquiry: Latin America in the Cold War, the global
1960s, and Chinese Maoist foreign relations.
Matthew Rothwell is assistant professor of History at Texas Southern Univer-
sity in the United States.
Routledge Studies in Modern History
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Places and practices of Exclusion
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2 From Slave Trade to Empire
European Colonisation of Black Africa 1780s–1880s
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The Search for a Useable Environmental Past
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Human Agency and the Imperial State
Isa Blumi
10 Transpacific Revolutionaries
The Chinese Revolution in Latin America
Matthew D. Rothwell
Transpacific Revolutionaries
The Chinese Revolution in Latin America
Matthew D. Rothwell
First published 2013
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the UK
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
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© 2013 Taylor & Francis
The right of Matthew D. Rothwell to be identified as author of this work
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rothwell, Matthew D.
Transpacific revolutionaries : the Chinese revolution in Latin America / by
Matthew D. Rothwell.
p. cm. — (Routledge studies in modern history ; 10)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Latin America—Foreign relations—China—Case studies. 2. China—
Foreign relations—Latin America—Case studies. I. Title.
F1416.C6R68 2012
327.8051—dc23
2012029208
ISBN: 978-0-415-65617-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-07808-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Lina

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 China and Latin America 11
2 Mexico: The Wayward Disciples of Vicente Lombardo 28
3 Forging the Fourth Sword of Marxism: The Chinese Revolution
and Peru’s Shining Path 48
4 Bolivia: Nationalists and Maoists Diverge 71
5 Conclusions 88
Notes 97
Bibliography 115
Index 125

Acknowledgments
I first became interested in Latin American Maoism when I stumbled upon it
in Mexico City in 1993. I was in Mexico visiting friends over winter break,
and we came upon a massive plantón (a sort of long-term, sit-in protest)
in support of Abimael Guzmán, the Peruvian Shining Path leader who had
been captured in 1992. Over the course of the next two years, substan-
tial portions of which were spent in the regions of Chiapas controlled by
the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), I met all variety of Latin
American and European leftists, and my curiosity about this Chinese ideo-
logical transplant to Latin America deepened. I have been aided by many
friends, colleagues and teachers during the almost twenty years since I first
became interested in Latin American Maoism. I cannot thank them all by
name, but I hope those who I don’t name know who they are and know that
they are appreciated.
Serious research on this project, initially as a PhD dissertation, began
under the guidance of Christopher Boyer and Bruce Calder in 2005. Chris
read innumerable drafts of the dissertation patiently and with a critical
eye, which has vastly improved the book and my own writing. Without
Chris’s mentorship, I suspect this book would not exist, and I am deeply
thankful for all he has done for me and for this project. Bruce has been
endlessly encouraging of my scholarship and convinced me to pursue a
PhD at a time when I had serious doubts about pursuing the life path that
I am on (and that has been so rewarding). Bruce’s support was a constant
and much appreciated part of my time in graduate school. James Searing,
Nils Jacobsen and Javier Villa Flores rounded out my dissertation commit-
tee and provided valuable feedback which I incorporated into the book.
I am indebted in large part to Laura Hostetler and Andrew Eisenberg for
my knowledge of Chinese history, which has been so important in writing
this book.
My research benefited from the aid and cooperation of many people in
the United States, Mexico, Peru and Bolivia. In the United States, I would
particularly like to thank Vicki Cervantes. Vicki put me in touch with net-
works in Mexico and Bolivia and, in so doing, probably saved me months
of work. Joel Andreas gave me permission to look through the papers of
x Acknowledgments
his mother, Carol Andreas. During research trips to Denver and New York
City, I enjoyed the hospitality of Doug Vaughn and Monica and Paul Shay
respectively.
I conducted a large number of oral history interviews and informational
meetings with Latin Americans, Europeans, North Americans, Indians and
Filipinos who traveled to China or had knowledge of pro-Chinese political
activities that are not directly cited in the text. Several of those I interviewed
or met with requested anonymity for a variety of reasons. Among those I
can acknowledge publicly, I would like to thank Irving Zuckerman and Sid-
ney Gluck in the United States. Monica Shay (who traveled to China in the
1970s as Monica Newbold and asked that her interview be cited under that
name) from the United States and Tron Ogrim of Norway both gave fasci-
nating and helpful interviews before their untimely (and unrelated) deaths.
They were both friends of mine and are missed.
In Mexico, I would like to thank José David Quiñones, Yolanda Fernán-
dez, Alberto Híjar, Adolfo Mexiac, Andrea Gómez, Enrique Cisneros, Iseo
Noyola, José Narro, Manuel Rodríguez, Martín Rodríguez, Víctor Reyes,
Camilo and Simitrio Tzompazquelitl.
In Peru, I would like to thank Laura González and Laura Balbuena for
their hospitality. The food and conversation at the hostel they run is out-
standing. The staff of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission archive at
the Defensoría del Pueblo was always helpful. In particular, I have to thank
Ruth Borja and Renzo Aroni Sulca. The interviews I conducted with Zenón
Naveda and Oswaldo Reynoso were very important, and I am grateful for
their time. Many other people gave generously of their time to help me make
connections with sources and orient me on doing research in Peru. For help
in this regard, I want to thank Jaymie Patricia Heilman, Carlos Alberto
García, Ricardo Caro, Ponciano del Pino, Iván Hinojosa, Juan Luis Pérez
Coronado, José Coronel and Enrique González Carré. The various street
vendors and others who helped me track down old and current Sendero
documents cannot all be thanked by name (especially since many of them
carry this material under the counter), but they have my gratitude.
In Bolivia, my research was greatly facilitated by the generous and con-
stant aid of Iván Nogales, Oscar Vega, Ramiro Fernández and Luis Oporto.
Thanks also to Edgar Ramírez, Jorge Echazú, Hugo Borda, Félix Muruchi,
Diva Arratia, Víctor Reinaga, Emilse Escóbar, Oscar Zamora, Norma Bil-
bao, Jesús Taborga and Eduardo Ayllón.
Casey Harison, Tamara Hunt and Niharika Banerjea, colleagues of mine
during my time at the University of Southern Indiana, all gave me valuable
feedback on early drafts of some chapters. Eric Zolov read several chapter
drafts and my exchanges with him helped to concretize my thinking on some
key aspects of the book. Routledge’s three anonymous reviewers provided
very valuable feedback, for which I thank them.
Thanks to Roberto Márquez for permission to use his and David Arthur
McMurray’s translation of Nicolás Guillén’s “La canción del regreso.”